SYRIA and Israel have agreed to expand negotiations as part of a US backed effort to achieve a peace agreement before the end of this year, the US and Syria announced yesterday.
The US Secretary of State, Mr Warren Christopher told a news conference before he left for Israel that military experts would join Israeli and Syrian diplomats in the next round of negotiations, which he said would begin near Washington on January 24th.
Mr Christopher made the announcement, similar to an official Syrian statement, after a 41/2 hour meeting with the Syrian President. Mr Hafez al Assad that he described as "important and productive".
I believe that we have crossed an important threshold in the negotiations" Mr Christopher said.
I believe that both President Assad and [Israeli] Prime Minister [Shimonl Peres are determined to see that the work is completed.
"The United States is certainly determined to assist them. President Clinton and I will certainly make every effort to try to achieve an agreement between the parties before the end of the year.
The decision to bring in military experts partly meets an Israeli desire to have the talks expanded by the inclusion of specialists from various fields.
But a senior US official told reporters it had been decided not to include at this stage experts on economic and water issues as Israel had also proposed.